slaying

Yesterday when I reported on the leak of the video footage, for some reason I attached the edited video rather than the full one. The edited video is more of a “highlights reel”.

Here is the full 40 minute unedited video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is9sxRfU-ik[/youtube]

I stayed out of the discussion on the previous post, and I’m going to do the same on this one. I have no experience flying Apache helicopters, and no experience as a soldier, so anything I would write about this incident would be useless, and purely opinion based on my impression watching the video from a comfortable leather chair while sipping in iced tea.

Some documents released yesterday under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) relating to the incident:

WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people (July 12, 2007) in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff.

Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0[/youtube]

Near the beginning of the video they talk about “guys with AK-47s” and “RPGs”, when the men in question are clearly carrying professional cameras.